Hacker admits world's biggest identity theft

Emma Woollacott, 14th September 2009

The Miami man dubbed the world's most prolific identity thief has admitted stealing 40 million credit and debit cards records from US retailers.

Albert Gonzalez appeared on Friday in a Boston court and pleaded guilty to 20 charges. He admitted exploiting vulnerabilities in the security systems of TJX, OfficeMax, BJ's Wholesale Club and other retailers back in 2003. The records were sold and the money laundered through accounts in Latvia.

His technique - known as 'wardriving' - involved cruising around with a laptop and searching for accessible wireless internet signals. Once Gonzalez and his colleagues found a vulnerable network, they installed sniffer programs to capture the card numbers.

Things went from bad to worse: after his arrest, Gonzalez began secretly collaborating with the US Secret Service to catch other hackers. But he now admits that during this period he warned off his co-conspirators to help them avoid arrest.

Gonzalez had already agreed to plead guilty to the charges. He now faces up to 25 years in prison, and must hand back more than $1.65 million. Sentencing is set for December 8th.